Berkshire musician Doug Schmolze will be performing at the New Lebanon Library on Friday, June 21, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. This event is free and open to the public, although donations for the performer are appreciated.
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New Lebanon
Author Julia Pomeroy At The New Lebanon Library
On Thursday, June 20, at 6:30 pm Columbia County author Julia Pomeroy will read from her book, No Safe Ground, at the New Lebanon Library. The reading will be followed by Q&A, a book signing and an author reception with light refreshments.
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New Lebanon Travel Club Hosts Pancake Breakfast
The New Lebanon High School Travel Club will have a pancake breakfast fundraiser at Immaculate Conception Church in New Lebanon on Sunday, June 23, from 9 to 11:30 am. Breakfast includes two pancakes, two sausages, two pieces of bacon and a beverage.
Tickets are being sold by Travel Club members for $20 for a family of five, $5 per person and $2 for children four and under. Tickets will also be sold at the door.
For more information please visit www.newlebanoncsd.org. All proceeds will benefit the Travel Club. Thank you for your support.
Music At PS21
West African Music
Senegalese vocalist, oral historian and master kora player Zal Idrissa Sissokho and his band Buntalo will perform an evening of West African Music on Saturday, June 22, at PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century, located at 2980 Route 66 in Chatham. The concert will begin at 7:30 pm.
“My music is called afro-manlinke. It is a mix of traditional and modern world music. It’s festive and sensitive. People will like to participate and dance,” said Zal Idrissa Sissokho. “There are also moments more calm to ear. The audience will be surprised at the kora’s beautiful sound and versatility.”
The kora is a 21-stringed harp-lute. While its sound resembles that of a harp, when played in the traditional style it bears a closer resemblance to blues guitar techniques. Kora players have traditionally come from griot families, who are, essentially, walking history books. Griots preserve ancient stories and traditions through song and their inherited tradition is passed down through generations. Zal Idrissa Sissokho is no exception. The Sissokho family are among the greatest representatives of the griots.
In his homeland of Dakar, Senegal, Zal Idrissa Sissokho learned the oral and musical traditions from his father. Zal also sang and composed songs inspired by the West African repertoire. In the late 1990s he moved to Canada and in 2004 he founded his group, Buntalo. Today the group’s repertoire consists of classical pieces sung in Malinké and Wolof, as well as original contemporary creations which preserve their centuries-old identity.
Tickets for Zal Idrissa Sissokho and Buntalo cost $30 for general admission, $25 for members and $18 for students and can be purchased at www.ps21chatham.org, by calling 1-800-838-3006 or at the door until the show sells out.
Lawn Concerts Start With The Chandler Travis Philharmonic
PS21 introduces a series of evening lawn concerts on the fourth Sunday of each month this summer – June 23, July 28 and August 25. Three bands offer diverse styles of music, from rock to rockabilly, salsa to swing. Bring a picnic and your dancing shoes or just kick back and enjoy. Local beer and wine, as well as coffee and desserts, will be available for sale.
The Chandler Travis Philharmonic will kick off the summer concert series Sunday, June 23, at 6 pm. This nine piece ensemble from Boston plays Dixieland, R&B, ‘60s Rock and more, and includes a horn section, string bass, keyboard, mandocello, guitar, drums, accordion and singing valet.
Guitarist, singer and composer, Travis Chandler presents an unlikely mixture of oddball humor and incisive songwriting -usually performing barefoot and in his pajamas. He has appeared with such diverse acts as Elvis Costello, Green Day, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Bonnie Raitt, the Beach Boys, Allen Ginsburg, the Replacements, George Carlin and many many others.
The Chandler Travis Philharmonic gives performances of virtuosic abandon, prodded along by Chandler’s longtime partner, the remarkable Rikki Bates on drums, and a host of other truly remarkable musicians including mandocellist Dinty Child, Fred Boak and the sensational horn section, the June Trailer Dancers, under the direction of Berke McKelvey.
Tickets for The Chandler Travis Philharmonic cost $15 for general admission, $12 for PS21 members and $6 for those 18 and under. Tickets can be purchased at www.ps21chatham.org or by calling 1-800-838-3006.
PS21 is located at 2980 Route 66 in Chatham. For further information about these programs or any other, please call 518-392-6121 or email ps21@fairpoint.net.
Olympic Marathon Gold Medallist Visits The Walter B. Howard Elementary School
by Thaddeus Flint
Olympic gold medallist runner, Joan Benoit Samuelson, was at the Walter B. Howard Elementary School in New Lebanon last Friday, the day before the Freihofer’s Run for Women on Saturday. Samuelson, who became the first-ever women’s Olympic marathon champion after winning the gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, came to speak to the children as part of the 35th Annual Freihofer’s Run for Women “Elite Athlete Visitation” program.
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Hooray For Summer Celebration At The New Lebanon Library
The New Lebanon Library will host a fun filled Hooray For Summer celebration on Friday, June 14, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Library. The celebration will include music, pot luck and stories and crafts for kids. Participants are encouraged to bring treats or a covered dish to share.
Music will be provided by jazz duo DBX2 which features bassist Dan Broad and pianist David Bartley. Broad, one of the most sought after bassists in western New England, has performed in nearly every state in the union and as well as in Europe. Bartley’s musical career includes scoring original music for film, video and radio productions, performing in various popular music groups and composing and performing several performance art pieces in association with the Washington Performing Arts Society.
This program is free, and all are welcome. For more information, please call the Library at 518-794-8844. The Library is located at 550 State Route 20, ¼ mile north of the yellow blinking light at the intersection of Routes 20 and 22.
Rev Tor Performs At New Lebanon Library
Berkshire musician Tor Krautter will perform at the New Lebanon Library on Thursday, June 13, at 6:30 pm. With the use of a looping unit, Rev Tor creates tasty yet infectious grooves and performs a large repertoire of well crafted original tunes and classic rock/folk covers.
Krautter (aka Rev Tor) is best known as front man for the popular Rev Tor Band. Since the early 90s he has been a powerful presence on the east coast club and festival circuit, performing in venues from Maine to Florida. Rev Tor has worked with members of The Grateful Dead, Phish, The Allman Brothers and New Riders of the Purple Sage and has performed at concerts with The Jerry Garcia Band, Los Lobos and Leon Russell. He has toured regularly with Grateful Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten.
This event is free and open to the public. For further information, please call the Library at 518-794-8844. The Library is located at 550 State Route 20, ¼ mile north of the yellow blinking light at the intersection of Routes 20 and 22.
Columbia County DA Declines To Prosecute SAFE Act Violation
by David Flint
In New Lebanon Town Court on May 23 the Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka declined to prosecute a charge of violating New York’s new Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, known as the SAFE Act. Czajka told Judge Jessica Byrne he was not making any “blanket policy” but having reviewed the file and discussed the charges and surrounding circumstances with the arresting State Troopers, he had decided to “decline to prosecute the unlawful possession of the ammunition feeding device.”
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Wildlife Conservation Program At The New Lebanon Library
Conservationist Peter Zahler will present “The Last of the Wild: Wildlife Conservation Across Temperate Asia” on Wednesday, June 5, at 6:30 pm at the New Lebanon Library. The program, which is free and open to the public, is appropriate for patrons of all ages. “Temperate Asia” extends from the frigid Siberian Arctic through the great expanses of Central Asia and China and down into the conflict-afflicted high mountains of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. Huge open spaces, such as Mongolia’s Eastern Steppe, the Russian Far East, the Tibetan Plateau and the Afghan Pamirs still hold some of the last great wild spectacles in Asia, from over a million migrating Mongolian gazelle to wild yak, Siberian tiger, Marco Polo sheep and snow leopard. Zahler will give a multimedia presentation on conservation programs that are working to save wildlife and wild places in this mysterious and little known expanse of earth’s landscape justifiably called “the last of the wild.”
Peter Zahler is the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Deputy Director for Asia and manages conservation programs and projects across temperate Asia. He has worked on wildlife conservation for over 30 years, from the Alaskan tundra to the Peruvian Amazon to the Pakistan Himalayas, but he is now happy to call East Chatham home.
The New Lebanon Library is located at 550 State Route 20, ¼ mile north of the yellow blinking light at the intersection of Routes 20/22.
New Lebanon Board Votes To Move Sidewalk Project Forward
by Thaddeus Flint
A plan to get the people of New Lebanon walking along their “miracle mile,” at least on one side of it anyway, with new sidewalks to be installed from Lover’s Lane to the high school, moved a bit closer to reality Tuesday.
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